Canada’s oil pipeline spending spree, plus action on fracked gas.

As the mid-summer mercury ticks skyward, we have a natural seasonal reminder that climate change is upon us. And while Sightline researchers may have swapped their rain boots for short-sleeved shirts, they have not slackened their pace in opposing fossil fuel expansions in the Northwest. Our team on Thin Green Line has been hard at work since our last update during the bluster of late March.

Researcher Tarika Powell’s nose isto the grindstone, developing a robust analysis of methane leakage from gas projects. Her work will query the oft-repeated claim that natural gas is a “cleaner” bridge between fossil fuels and renewables. Spoiler alert: she will demonstrate any such fuel bridge is likely a path to climate disaster.

Tarika also spent time to advance environmental justice causes in Tacoma. She presented to the Affiliated Tribe of Northwest Indians on the risks of gas infrastructure, and she was a featured guest onan hour-long KBOO segment covering Northwest fracked fuel projects. She also published a hard look at “Trump LNG,” a zombie-like fracked gas project in Coos Bay, Oregon. That review process is nowopen for public comment.

I wrote about gas too. Researcher Paelina DeStephano and I tracked the industry’s political spending in Washington to reveal that Puget Sound Energy spends as much as all the other fracked gas companies combined.

We also showed that the project would consume more gas than Cascadia’s biggest cities put together. Plus, I demonstrated three ways the proposed Kalama methanol project would be a huge climate mistake, using key research from Stockholm Environment Institute.

Ahren Stroming and I examined a proposal for a small-town silicon smelter and outlined the big questions it tees up for Northwest climate action. Ahren and I also took a many-decade retrospective on the Washington oil industry and asked whether its steady expansion can ever be halted. If it can, it will likely involve more protective zoning—a subject that I analyzed in an article surveying anti-fossil fuel land use laws adopted by Northwest cities and counties.

In a particularly trenchant piece, Clark explained Canada’s surprise purchase of the pipeline, including plans for expansion and how the buy amounts to the Canadian government will bail out a Houston billionaire. He also explained how the project’s new owners could put Washington in the crosshairs of a related oil pipeline expansion south of the 49th parallel.

Bird-dogging its failing fortunes,Clark also covered the collapse of “self-bonding”—another blow to the western coal industry.

On top of all that, Clark coauthored two reports with colleagues from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. One covered the ongoingfinancial stress in the oil and gas industry and a bizarre paradox: oil and gas production are booming despite shrinking financial clout in the fossil fuel sector. A second report covered thefinancial case for divesting from fossil fuels. Both individuals and professional money managers, it argues, have excellent reasons to pull their money out of underperforming and volatile investments in oil, gas, and coal.

Finally, in two guest pieces for Sightline, Seattle University School of Law professor Michael Mayer shared his expertise. In the first, he askedwhat is the “necessity defense” and what are its limits? In the second, he highlighted a range of important courtroom climate cases, includingthe latest news on “the trial of the century.”

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Founded in 1993, Sightline Institute is committed to making the Northwest a global model of sustainability, with strong communities, a green economy, and a healthy environment. We work to promote smart policy ideas and monitor the region's progress towards sustainability.